An internship or field study is a specified component of the Master of Arts in Art Education Program. This internship is designed to give each student the opportunity to experience and investigate a specific environment of art education related to her or his professional objective or to explore a site that adds to her or his understanding of the range of possibilities available for educating people in the visual arts. For this reason, all students enrolled in the Master’s Degree Program in Art Education at The University of Texas at Austin are expected to fulfill an internship or field study (AED 386) as part of their MA degree program. A student who seeks an exemption from AED 386 Internship and Field Experience in Art Education must submit the following: A letter, written to the Graduate Advisor in Art Education, which details (a) specific reasons why the student is seeking an exemption from the required internship experience, (b) the particular course within the Division of Art Education the student will enroll in as a replacement for AED 386, and (c) why this AED replacement course is of greater benefit to the student’s academic program than it would be to engage in the internship experience. The Graduate Advisor in Art Education, in consultation with faculty members in the Division of Art Education, will render a decision about whether or not to approve this exemption proposal.
For those students seeking State of Texas art teacher certification in conjunction with the MA degree in Art Education, the semester-long Apprenticeship (sometimes referred to as “student teaching”) fulfills the internship requirement (AED 386) for the master’s degree in Art Education. Students who complete the Apprenticeship for State of Texas art teacher certification are required to meet with the Graduate Advisor in Art Education to identify a replacement course for AED 386, in order to complete the 36 credit hours necessary for the MA degree in Art Education.